Robotized Retail: Historical Analogy and Retail Disruption

Today, significant change is disrupting the retail industry, driven by new methods and pioneered by an upstart, ascendant online retailer. Amazon methodically identifies consumer expectations for price and quality of experience and meets them with reinvented retail processes — realized by automation in its distribution centers and home office. The cost structures of incumbent retailers are misaligned with this emergent way of satisfying consumer expectations and operating retail processes. This caused a scramble to understand the critical management competencies and capabilities that retailers must possess.